The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1887-04-08

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always does toward sunset Indeed, all tina
remained of it were few strictly local ant
miniature whirlwinds, which would suddenly
spring up Oh the road itself, and twist anc
twirl fiercely round, raising mighty column
of dust fifty feet or more into the air, where
it hung long after the cause of it passed, ant
then slowly dissolved as its particles foatet
to the earth.
Coming along the road, in the immediate
track of one of these desultory and inexplic
able whrlwinds, was man on horseback
The man looked limp and dirty, and the
horse lmper and dirtier. The hot wind had
taken all the bones out of them, as the KafIirs
say, which was not very much to be wondered
at, seeing that they had been journeying
through it for the last four hours, without
off saddling. Suddenly the whirlwind, which
had been travelling along pretty smartly
halted, and the dust, after turning round q
few times in the air like dying top, slowly
began to dissolve in the accustomed fashion.
The man on the horse halted. too, and con.
tenplated it in an absent kind Of way.
"It's just like mans life" he said aloud to
his horse, Coming from nobody knows where,
nobody knows why, and making little
column of dust ON the worlds highway, and
then passing away and leaving the dust to
fall to the ground again, and be trodden
under foot and forgotten"
The speaker, a stout, well set up, rather ugly
man, apparently on the wrong side of 80, witk
pleasant blue eyes and i reddish, peaked
beand, laughed little at his own contentious
reflection, and then gave his jaded horse a
tap with the sjambock in his hand
Come on, Blesbok," he said, cor we shall
never get to old Croft's place tonight BY
Jove! I believe that must be the turn"
and he pointed with his whip to a little rutty
track that turned from the WakNerstroom
main road and stretched away toward
curious, isolated hill with large fiat top, that
rose out Of the rolling plain some four miles
to the right. "The old Boer said the second
turn" he went on, still talking to himself,
"but perhaps he lied. I am told that
some Of them think it a good joke to send
an Englishman a few miles wrong. Let's
see, they said the place was under the lee Of a
table topped hill, about half all hours ride
from the main road, and that is a table
topped hill, so think will try it. Come on,
Blesbok," and he put the tired nag into
sort of "tripple," or ambling canter, much
affected by South African horses.
Life is queer thing" reflected Capt.
John Mel to himself as he slowly cantered
along. snow here am I, at the age Of
"a, about to begin the world again as
assistant to an old Transvaal farmer It is
pretty end to all ones ambitions, and to four
teen years. work in the army; but it is what
it has to come to, my boy, SO you had better
make the best Of it."
just then his cogitations were interrupted,
for on the farther side Of gentle slope there
suddenly appeared an extraordinary sight.
Over the crest Of the rise of land, now some
four or five hundred yards away, a pony with
a lady en- its back came wildly galloping,
and after it, with wings spread and out
stretched neck, huge cock ostrich was
speeding along, covering twelve or fifteen
feet at every stride Of its long legs The pony
was still twenty yards ahead of the bird, and
coming toward John rapidly, but strive as it
would it could not distance the swiftest thing
on all the earth Five seconds passed: the |
great bird was close alongside now. All!
and John Mel turned sick and shut his eyes
as he rode, for he saw the ostrich' thick leg
fly high into the air and then sweep down
like q loaded bludgeon.
her horse upon the spine, behind the saddle,
for the moment completely paralyzing it, SO
that it fell all of a heap on to the veldt. In
moment the girl on its back was up and off
toward him, and after her came the ostrich.
Up went the great leg again, but before it
came crashing on to her shoulders she had
flung herself face downward on the grass
In an instant the huge bird was on top of
hor Eicl-pn ot bay. ro1lipcr hos ~
crushing the very life out of her. 1t was at
this juncture that John Mel arrived upon the
scene. The moment the ostrich saw him he
gave up his attacks upon the lady on the
ground and began to waltz toward him with
a pompons sort of step that these birds some
times assume before they give battle. Now,
Capt Mel was unaccustomed to the ways of
ostrlches, and SO was his horse, which showed
a strong inclination to bolt; as, indeed, under
other circumstances, his rider would have
been glad to do himself. But he could not
abandon beauty in distress SO, finding it i'm
possible to control his horse, he slipped off it,
and with his sjambock or hide whip. in his
hand, valiantly faced the enemy. For mo-
ment or two the great bird stood still, blink
ing its lustrous eyes at him and
gently swaying its graceful neck to and
fro. Then all of sudden it spread out
its wings and came for him like
q thunderbolt. He sprang to one side, and
was aware of a rustic Of rustling feathers,
and of vision of thick leg striking down. |
ward past his head. Fortunately it missed
him and the ostrich sped past like flash. |
Before no could turn, however, it was back |
and had landed the full weight Of one OF its
awful forward kicks in the broad OF his